by Ellis Leigh
“You offering me a taste, sugar?”
I couldn’t breathe. Okay, I could. But it was damn hard. As was the man basically lying on top of me. “Maybe. Why? You want one?”
He shook his head all slow, not breaking our gaze. “One would never be enough.”
I thought for sure he was going to kiss me. In fact, I hoped for it. Instead, he sighed and pulled away, squeezing my thigh once as if sad to let me go. “I need to get you to the ranch.”
Not really what I wanted to hear, but I conceded. Letting him move back across the seat to his side of the truck. Accepting his retreat…for the moment.
Still, the drive was beautiful and the view inside the cab of his truck better. Even my fox came out of hiding to watch Liam. The tendons in his arms flexed every time he turned the steering wheel, and the solid muscle of his thighs seemed to want to bust out of his jeans. Broad shoulders, thick biceps, and a strong, square jaw made for quite the specimen of masculinity. Something that appealed to both sides of me—the human and the animal. I could have watched him drive that truck all day.
The trip didn’t last that long, though. Soon enough, he turned onto a dirt driveway leading to a cute, ranch-style home with a deep front porch and a big barn out back.
“This is nice,” I said as Liam shut off the engine.
“Thanks. Wait right there for me.” He hopped out and raced around the front of the truck, rushing to open my door. He even offered me a hand as I climbed down. And if his eyes darted to watch the way my skirt flirted with my upper thighs as I dropped to the ground, well…I didn’t mind. At all.
“Such a gentleman. That’s not something a girl comes across much anymore.” Not much at all from my experience.
Liam brought my hand to his mouth, kissing the back before shooting me a wink and grinning. “We aim to please.”
Oh, that smile. It killed me every time. One word caught my attention, though. Had me cocking my head as I asked, “We?”
Before he could answer, three men walked out of the house, all staring my way. All just as gorgeous as the one still holding my hand. Dark hair, light eyes, and big bodies, lined up in a row behind the porch railing.
“Oh…we.” Four men on the ranch. And me.
Liam squeezed my fingers and tugged me along beside him. “Come meet my team. I have a feeling they’re going to be as enamored of you as I am.”
Enamored. We’d only just met, and he already felt enamored. He sounded just like a shifter who’d found his mate, and yet…I didn’t feel what I’d always thought I would. I didn’t know what I felt. Attraction, sure. In spades, really. Desire, absolutely. But that deep pull on my soul to my one true mate? Not really. So confusing.
As we approached the porch, my fox slinked farther out of her hiding spot, watching the men with interest. As soon as she caught their scents—all shifters for sure, none foxes—she chattered loud and strong. She wanted them all. Wanted to sneak away with them and run her bushy tail over their skin.
“Liam,” I whispered, gripping his hand tight. Hanging on for dear life as the world spun around me.
“I’ve got you, sugar. Just trust me.”
Trust. Right. Not the easiest thing in the world to give anymore, but I still followed him. Still took the step up into the shade. Damn near stopped breathing as the energy of these guys swept over me. The pull to the men, the gut-clenching need to be around all four of them, increased when we came together on that porch. My instincts to claim and mate flared bright. Still, something felt off. The drive to join seemed incomplete somehow, but stronger. So much stronger.
The men definitely seemed to feel the same. They watched me ravenously, four sets of blue eyes taking in every detail. My nipples hardened under their intense stares, and my pussy throbbed, lust stronger than I’d ever experienced before washing over me as I stood before them. Stronger than when I’d met Liam. Stronger than anything I’d ever even heard of. At least, in the fox shifter world. There were other stories, of course. Other breeds of shifters with different histories and cultures. Some of them even took more than one mate, but four?
“Boys, meet Waverley.” Liam placed his hand on my lower back and propelled me forward, throwing me to the wolves, it seemed. Or not wolves, as I’d already figured out. “If my sense of smell is correct, she’s a fox shifter. And I do believe she’s the mate we’ve been waiting so long for. Where are the others?”
Oh hell.
Chapter Three
Seven. There were seven men total on the farm. Well, not men. Not wholly men. Horse shifters. Stallions. A herd of strapping, handsome men all with dark, wavy hair and eyes in various shades of blue. All ready to claim me as their mate.
My brain couldn’t rationalize that thought even as my body responded to the pull to them. The full, legendary mating pull I’d heard about my entire life. The one that left me aroused and needy in all sorts of fun ways, that made my heart race and my legs shake with pure desire. The stallions were definitely fated to be mine.
But…seven?
“So, you’re saying each one of you would…”
“Fuck you? Absolutely,” Matthew, a sharper, cockier version of Liam said with a sarcastic sort of expression on his pretty face. Bad boy. Definitely a bad boy, that one.
Liam smacked him upside the head as he resettled at the kitchen table where we’d been talking for what seemed like a damn lifetime. “Mind your mouth.”
“I’d rather she mind it for me.”
Liam glared and Garrett chuckled, but Matthew didn’t seem to give a single fuck. Definitely the bad boy of the group. Liam appeared to be the leader, the one setting the rules and making sure things stayed balanced. Garrett had already gotten me a snack and something to drink, so I took him as the sweet one. The caretaker. Quinn…well, Quinn had been quiet, watching me from behind a pair of thick, black glasses that made me want to play out a naughty teacher fantasy with him. Tripp was big, jovial, and wore an old football jersey from some college I didn’t recognize the name of. Definitely the jock of the group. Dalton and Cade both seemed harder, meaner. Rougher around the edges. While Matthew may have been arrogant and harsher than Liam, those two took that to a whole other level. Something about them spoke of military training or law enforcement. I would bet all the money I didn’t have that they were the protectors of the herd.
Easy enough to tell them apart—not so easy to know what to do with them. Or rather, how. Or maybe just what.
Seven. Men.
“Sugar,” Liam said, leaning forward and reaching for my hand. “Ask us whatever you need to. I know this sort of thing isn’t common, even in the shifter world.”
No kidding. “I just…how could there not be fights? Fox shifters mate once and are very territorial about their partners. If another male fox even touched a mated female, there’d be bloodshed.”
“Oh, horses are just as territorial,” Quinn said, giving me a smile that made my core go liquid. “Trust me, if any male outside the herd came sniffing around, we’d take care of them.”
Pictures raced through my head, memories from the night my ex had broken in to my apartment. Had demanded I stay with him. The night he’d nearly killed my male neighbor who’d tried to protect me. All the dead bodies that had piled up afterward. I didn’t want to bring that on anyone else again, so Quinn’s words were not exactly calming.
But I had to push all that away. I’d escaped, and everything I’d gone through to do so could be talked about and dealt with later. My first concern—my very first consideration on the ranch—had to be in regard to the established herd they had. And how my presence could destroy it.
“I just don’t know what I should do here,” I said, nearly buckling under the weight of the frowns and disappointed glances thrown my way. “I’m…I’m really confused by all of this. It’s just not how mating works where I’m from.”
Liam and Matthew exchanged a look, a long stare where I had a feeling a full conversation happened. Quinn pulled out a tablet and
began typing away, looking up at me every few seconds while Dalton watched over his shoulder. And Garrett? He just looked sad.
“You don’t want to stay?” Garrett asked.
His pouty lips almost broke my heart. “I don’t know. It’s a lot to take in.”
“She’s right,” Liam said, rising to his feet. “Waverley needs time to get to know us and to wrap her head around the concept of mating with a herd instead of just one man. She’s never even been around horse shifters before.” His lips quirked, a smile seemingly trying to fight its way out. “Perhaps we should take a few days and show her what her life could be like with us. Let her fox get the lay of the land and a good look at our stallions.”
“Right.” Matthew leaned back in his chair, looking positively devilish. “Liam said he bought you a bus ticket in case you wanted to leave, so that gives us what…five days? Plenty of time to introduce this shy little bunny to our way of life. We’ll start with a full dinner tonight—all of us together.”
“I’m a fox, not a bunny.”
He grinned. “Could have fooled me.”
“So we’re on for dinner.” Liam came up behind me, rubbing my shoulders and leaning down close to whisper in my ear. “And maybe, if I’m a real good boy, you’ll let me have a little dessert, sugar.”
Oh my. I clamped my legs together, hoping like hell the rest of the men couldn’t tell how his words affected me. How wet I’d suddenly become or how hard my nipples were beneath my thin, cotton dress. I’d never been so lucky, though. Garrett snorted a laugh, and Matthew looked downright brash. They knew. And if the heated stares they all sent me were any indication, they liked it.
Liked how aroused I got around them.
Liked their chances of convincing me to stay.
Chapter Four
I spent the rest of the day exploring the farm with Liam. He kept the others away, giving me time to get to know just him. To get used to his touch too. The man was handsy, but I liked it. Loved it, really. Soft brushes of his fingers against my hands, a pat to my ass as I walked in front of him, the comfort of his arm around my shoulders. All amazing and so very confusing at the same time. How could he want to touch me so much but be willing to hand me off to another man? And how could I want that? Want to be with him while still thinking about the others? I didn’t understand.
Thankfully, Liam never pushed me to try. Instead, he kept up a calm and comforting stream of conversation as we strolled from pasture to woods, from outbuilding to barn. He showed me where their horses lived, where they were bred, where the men worked in their respective roles. He showed me the entirety of the Hidden E Ranch.
I’d never been on such a piece of property—so rural and sprawling. Having lived mainly in cities and suburbs, I knew the idea that acres upon acres of land lay around me with no other humans to be found probably should have made me antsy. Instead, I found myself enjoying the quiet and the peace, wanting to run through the fields and explore. The open land soothed something inside of me. So did Liam’s quiet presence, but he wasn’t the only man on the farm. Something I needed to remember.
So as evening began to fall, I asked him to take me back to the house so I could make the boys dinner.
“You don’t have to cook,” Liam said, even though I could practically see the hunger in his eyes. Hunger for something outside of my body.
“You said you needed a cook, and I’m not afraid to earn my keep. Just give me a little time, and I’ll make sure your mouth is watering.”
With a growl befitting a wolf more than a stallion, he yanked me off my feet and into his arms, nuzzling my neck before placing a small, wet kiss on my collarbone. “It’s been watering since I first saw you, sugar.”
Oh, my sexy, charming Liam. I ran my hands through his wavy hair and over his neck, enjoying the moment of connection. The affection he gave so freely. Even my fox sighed and curled up in my mind, comfortable with Liam’s presence. Basking in the scent of her mate… One of her seven mates, actually.
I focused on her as Liam held me, trying to discern her instincts on the matter at hand. On the seven. Her response was a quick snort and a sound much like a purr. Or a chuckle. Maybe a laugh. Whatever the noise, the thought of being mated to so many men didn’t seem to bother her nearly as much as it did me. In fact, she seemed almost excited to begin the mating process. Still a hussy.
My human side wasn’t much better, though. I couldn’t help but think what it would be like—the sex, that is. My seven mates were gorgeous in their own ways, all dark-haired with light eyes. All with slightly different builds and features. Would they take me one at a time? All together? Would some watch as a single man took his turn inside me? And oh my stars, why did the thought of that turn me on so much?
Liam must have noticed something—a deeper scent or the way my breathing picked up as I imagined him with his face planted between my thighs as my naughty Matthew looked on. Liam seemed to like whatever he sensed, and he definitely reacted. He groaned and ran his hands down my back, gripping my ass and dragging my legs around him. Rubbing hard and pulling me in tight. The solid ridge of his erection rode over my most sensitive spots, the thin cotton and thicker denim between us no match for the heat of me. The wetness. I wanted him, that much I was sure about. But I wanted the others too.
Shouldn’t I only want one?
“Stop thinking so much,” Liam said as he kissed my neck before biting down hard enough to make me jolt against him. “You’re going to give your poor fox a headache.”
“My poor fox seems to be doing just fine. It’s me who can’t turn off my brain.”
Liam set me down and spun me around, wrapping his arms around my body once more as he dipped me. “Then think long and hard about this, Waverley. Because once you’re ours? We’ll never let you go. Stallions mate for life, and a herd is forever.”
He kissed me then, firm and deep and exactly what I needed. His tongue slicked into my mouth, and his strong arms caged me against his bigger body. But before I could pull him closer, before I could try to rub myself against him again and ease the ache between my legs, he brought me back to standing and broke the kiss.
“So your fox likes the thought of having seven stallions at her whim?”
I huffed a laugh, hanging on to his arm as we meandered toward the house once more. “I think my fox is more on board with this mating than I am, actually. She seems awfully comfortable with the idea of the seven-to-one ratio.”
“Really? Smart little fox.”
I shoved him, accomplishing nothing, but eliciting a smile nonetheless. “You just like the idea of getting under my fur.”
“Like? No. I love the idea of getting under your fur.” He shot me a quick wink before growing serious once more. “Honestly, sugar. What can we do to calm your fears? What worries you so much about this? I know you feel the connection between us.” He placed my hand against his chest, turning me to face him and staring down into my eyes. “You feel me, don’t you?”
The tension between us increased, the need to connect with him almost overwhelming. Almost. “I do. I feel that pull between us, but it’s not what I’ve been expecting, I guess.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“Because I feel it for the others too. Yet it’s not all the same—the strength of it varies from one man to the next.” I shook my head, unable not to ask the question that seemed to dominate my worries. “Shouldn’t I feel the same pull to each of you?”
“Not necessarily, and certainly not right away. The bonds will only strengthen as we all get to know one another better. They’ll balance out eventually and become more even, though you’ll always feel connected to us in different ways.”
“How so?”
“Well, you might come to me for comfort and Matthew for more…shall we say, stimulation.” His smile turned downright naughty, something I took to mean he knew exactly how much of a bad boy Matthew could be. “Tripp might be who you joke and play with, while Dalton may be more of a protector
. We’re all different, so your bonds and your needs for each of us will differ too.”
But there was another fear. A deeper one in regard to the seven men. One I was almost too afraid to ask about.
Almost.
“What if I don’t end up connected to all of you? What happens to your herd if, say, I only bond with five of the stallions?”
Liam stared down at me for a long moment then shook his head, leading me toward the house with my hand in his. “That’s never happened that I know of, but if it does, we’ll deal with it as a unit.” He paused and licked his lips, looking almost nervous. “None of my guys would ever force you to do something you don’t want. Every encounter between us will be on your terms and with your full consent, or it won’t happen, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
It wasn’t, not really. I already felt attracted to each of them, though in different ways, and I could sense their care for me. I had no fears when it came to my stallions. No sense of danger. I worried more about how each man would handle it when my attention didn’t go their way, but I didn’t want to say that to Liam right then. I had a feeling he’d tell me everything would be fine, that the guys would behave and accept another male touching their mate. His reassurances would be nice, of course, but I needed to see it, not just hear the words. I needed to know for sure that jealousy between the stallions wouldn’t be an issue.
Which was how I concocted my plan for how to handle my first dinner at the Hidden E Ranch.
Chapter Five
Sex and food went hand in hand in my world. So much so that my grandmother had once taught me how to make a beef stew that could appease the hungriest of men in a short amount of time. She used to tell me, “You need something quick to make so you can satisfy your mate in other ways too.”
Satiation seemed like the best plan. Perhaps not tonight, though.
Still, I wanted to feed all seven of the men at the table, and they were solid, strapping men. Not a single skinny or lean one among the group. This would require a lot of stew and maybe even some homemade biscuits to fill them up. Plus dessert. Always dessert.
